CASUAL CONVERSIONS

Upscale restaurants in county are being transformed into more low-key eateries

The shift toward more casual dining, even among San Diego’s more upscale spots, last week claimed a La Jolla icon: The Whaling Bar.

The decades-old watering hole at the La Valencia Hotel closed as part of a makeover of the bar and adjoining restaurant, Cafe La Rue, which will reopen this summer as a lighter, brighter European-style cafe — with a few artistic nods to its Whaling Bar roots.

It is among a number of new dining choices coming on line in San Diego and North County in the coming months, from a new take on a pizzeria to restaurateur Matt Gordon’s latest departure from his Solace brand.

With the exception of the Cafe La Rue makeover, each of the new eateries is going into spaces previously occupied by now-closed restaurants, some of which were challenged by rising rents or diners’ changing tastes.